Why We Chose Brasov as A Base
I can’t remember but I’m glad we did.
Maybe it was because we’d heard about Transylvania and all of its legends, but I don’t remember. It wasn’t particularly easy to get to not close to another city we were visiting. It wasn’t the capital of Romania. Bucharest takes that honour.
After falling off the overnight train, still half-asleep, we managed to board a bus heading towards the old town centre of Brasov, and lumbered off to find our accommodation, Residence Hirscher. The cobble-stoned streets were challenging for my suitcase wheels but we eventually arrived to find one of our rooms ready which was brilliant as it wasn’t even 9 am. I don’t know what happened then but Stacey and I fell asleep on the very comfortable lounges and must have slept for a few hours.
Transilvania Restaurant — our favourite
I don’t know what I did for the rest of the day — I did have a glorious bath and organise a hire car for tomorrow before heading out to dinner at Transilvania Restaurant. (No I didn’t spell it incorrectly) Lots and lots and lots of choices! I prefer a set menu with just a few choices as I could sit all night deciding what to have and changing my mind half a dozen times before the waitress takes my order. I wound up choosing pork sausages and mashed potatoes while the others all had something more exotic.
As usual, we were the first ones in the restaurant so were served quickly — it was only 5.30! Oh, we are getting to be old grannies, but we hadn’t had any lunch and breakfast was on the train many hours before. Kiryn, Keeley, Stacey and I headed to Dean’s Irish Pub for a nightcap : pina coladas for Keeley and me. We drank them dry and didn’t want to change drinks at this stage (we had already been drinking red wine with dinner) so decided we’d have an early night. It was only 9 o’clock!
Keeley and Stacey took the big bed in the loft bedroom while I settled into the sofa bed downstairs in the lounge room — the most comfortable sofa bed in the world — and I slept all night.
All of us are ready by 9 the next morning; Kiryn and Lorelle have hired a private tour guide for the day, while the rest of us have a car for 4 days to explore the countryside. It’s only 33 euro per day including insurance, a second driver (Stacey) and unlimited kilometres. We check the car over with Mihaela; it’s a silver Ford Focus — it has a few scratches which are duly noted, and off we go headed for Bran Castle, the reputed Dracula Castle. Fortunately, Stacey is driving because the roundabouts are very scary. I am supposed to be navigating but have no idea where we are on the map and just keep hoping to spot a sign pointing to which I do eventually. On the way to Bran, we drive through Rasnov and turn off to find the Rasnov Fortress, but miss it completely (thanks to my wonderful navigation skills) and end up at the most delightful spot which we didn’t even know existed. Stacey reverses the car right up against a wooden fence ( and I mean that literally) but luckily the wooden fence just bends over and no damage is done to the car.
An unexpected find — the best kind
We all get out to stretch our legs and find we have ended up at some caves so decide to wander up to have a look. There is only one other car in the car park. Walking through the forest following the path up the hill, it seemed like we were the last people on earth. It was so peaceful and so incredibly beautiful and we had chanced upon it by accident.
What’s that saying about the best things in life are unplanned? The autumn colours of the surrounding woodland were whispering ‘photograph me’, which of course we did. I will try to post a couple of Stacey’s photos as she captures the autumn colours beautifully. I think I will have a couple of them enlarged and printed when I get home. I might even try to sell them at the markets! I am getting carried away here… All we could talk about was bears and we wouldn’t have been at all surprised if a brown bear had lumbered out of the forest to greet us although God only knows what we would have done! We thought we did see a bear (I think our imaginations were getting the better of us) but it was a huge German Shepherd puppy who made friends with Keeley.
Stacey went to get us an entry token for the cave from a little hut while the rest of us sat regaining our breath after the long walk up the hill. Suddenly, spilling out of the cave was the most excited group of children we had met. They were jumping up and down, hugging each other, and laughing so much five of them fell backwards and landed on my hiking poles which were propped up beside me.
Keeley thought they were just happy to get out of the cave alive! They were the most delightful kids — no fighting or yelling or bullying-— just all happy to look after one another unlike every other group of children we have come across in our travels, most of whom have been obnoxious brats. One of their teachers asked a little boy to come to apologise to me for falling over the poles, and it was the longest, most heartfelt apology I have ever heard even though I couldn’t understand a word of it. A couple of the children then tried the flying fox while we videoed them. Then it was our turn for the caves. We ventured into a well-lit (thank God!) beautiful cave — no ice, but some amazing natural sculptures done by water and limestone over the centuries. Many of the stalactites and stalagmites met to form pillars and columns resembling Lord of the Rings type cities.
Our guide explained each part of the cave in English (just for us) and Romanian as the rest of the group all understood Romanian. Far sooner than we wanted, we exited the mouth of the cave and headed down the hill again, this time meeting many people on their way up. When we walked up, we hadn’t seen a single soul which made it so special. We could revel in the beauty of nature completely unobserved.
Rasnov Fortress
Then, back to Rasnov Fortress which we had driven straight past. After parking the car (not reverse parking!) we hopped on a tractor-drawn cart to be transported to the top of the hill where the fortress had been built almost a thousand years ago. Many of the walls were crumbling and there were restoration works in progress, but it was evident what a great stronghold it would have been as there were 360-degree views from the top and enemies could have been spotted coming from any direction. I am not sure exactly what happened when an enemy army was seen. Did they ring the church bell, alert the village and all the people troop up to the safety of the fortress? We smiled hello to the children we had met at the caves and headed on to Bran.
The historic Bran Castle
I was hesitant to do the tour of the castle. Number one, my legs were pretty damn tired after the caves and the fortress, number two, Bran Castle was just so touristy and kitschy, and number three, it was 20 lei to enter whereas the other attractions were just 10. Stacey encouraged me to do it, and I was pleased I did, even though the hundreds of stairs almost killed me.
I didn’t like how they had made this castle famous by attaching the fictional character Dracula to it and were selling Dracula ashtrays, t-shirts, and all that other bloodthirsty souvenir stuff, whereas in truth, Bran Castle was a fantastic castle itself with an interesting history without the intervention of anyone named Vlad Dracul (the real-life monster Bram Stoker based his character on) who purportedly may have spent a night here once!
There were almost as many beggars as there were stray dogs, who did not believe me when I said I had no money. (I have not carried money the entire trip: I don’t think they take credit cards!) I was eating a hot dog so maybe that’s why they didn’t believe me. We headed back to the restaurant where I ordered an Ursus beer which was just what I needed. While we sat and drank, Stacey was running around frantically trying to get some money out to buy a pair of slippers she had fallen in love with at the markets. All of their efforts were in vain as no money would be released. The slippers were only 25 lei (our beers were 16); fate must have decided she didn’t need them. Or that it was just plain bad luck! After leaving Bran, we headed back to Brasov over the mountains which were bathed in the late afternoon sunlight which deepened the colours of the autumn leaves and made for a very pleasant trip. We found a park in a free street just around the corner from our hotel. What good luck! We arrived back just in time for dinner, and we were all starving. I think all we had eaten all day were the sweet and savoury pastries Keeley and Stacey had bought this morning.
We decide to try another recommended restaurant, Sergiana’s, and even though the food was excellent, the atmosphere was hot and smoky. Faced with so many choices (again), I opted for pork stuffed with bacon and garlic, baked potatoes and sour cream, and broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and the best brussels sprouts I have ever tasted, and of course, more red wine which was 18 lei for a litre! Bargain! Lorelle, Kiryn and Stacey headed off to Dean’s for more drinks, but the heat of the restaurant and the tiredness of my body overcame my desire for more alcohol. I headed back for a relaxing bath and an early night as we have a big day planned tomorrow and need to make an early start. Forward planning dictated we stop at the patisserie tonight to buy some breakfast to eat on the road tomorrow. Because they want to sell all of their pastries before they close, they were half price so we bought eight, a mixture of sweet and savoury, for 18 lei (3.6 euro). Bargain!
Up and off next morning at 8 as planned driving towards Sighisoara, another one of the Saxon towns. The Saxons (from Northern Germany) were invited here back in the 15th century (don’t quote me it could have been the 12th) to build the 45 citadels as fortresses against invaders. It seems the whole of European history focusses on defence of each country against invaders. Anyway, they were skilled artisans, engineers and architects so they brought their families with them and settled here. Who could blame them? It is truly a beautiful part of the world. And they left their legacy in the Saxon towns and villages of Transylvania.
The search for cheap wine
We stopped to stretch our legs (and take photos) in the village of Saschiz Keidz, the first of many villages we were to drive through. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the horses and carts the Lonely Planet says are common in the rural villages where cars — any sort of car — attract stares. Well, we did see dozens of horses and carts carrying everything imaginable with some real characters driving them, but we only went to two villages where we were stared at. Both were off the main road — Biertan where we were hoping to find the Crama Biertan (wine cellar) where wine is sold from 5 lei a bottle (just over a euro) — and Richis, a village we discovered a little further on in our search for the wine!
We drove out of Biertan straight past the winery to Richis, and back again, and still couldn’t find the bloody thing. We eventually asked a local and obtained specific directions. We couldn’t believe we had missed it — twice! It was because we were all looking at the unusual haystacks on the other side of the road — well, that’s our excuse! We drove up the driveway to the winery. It not only looked closed; it looked closed down! Everything looked old and dilapidated. A man emerged from behind the building and told us it was closed. I don’t think the Lonely Planet has been updated in this section since it was first written in 1989, even though our copy was published in October 2011-— you can’t get more up-to-date than that! So wineless, we drove on to Sibiu. To backtrack a bit, which we are getting quite good at, let me mention that our first real stop apart from Saschiz Keidz was Sighisoara. Keeley had bought an Eastern Europe Lonely Planet in Budapest and decided this was the place she most wanted to visit. She wanted to see the quiet little Piata Cetatii (old town square) where we parked the car, the massive clock tower dating from 1280 which houses the history museum in rooms coming off the staircase winding up to the 7th floor where you can walk around the balcony and see for miles and miles! One of the best and most interesting museums I have ever visited! Do you get the feeling this trip is a collection of superlatives? The best meal, the best museum, the best bed…
Sighisoara Museum
The most fascinating part of the museum for me was the room with the 14 towers built into the citadel’s walls, each of which is named for the occupations of people who were responsible for their upkeep. 9 of these towers are still standing. We drove through the Tailors’ Tower. There was also the Tinsmiths’ Tower, the Ironsmiths’, the Blacksmiths’, the Locksmiths’, the Butchers’, the Carpenters’, the Turners’, the Furriers’, the Tanners’, the Shoemakers’, the Hatters’, the Potters’ and the Linen Weavers’. I think I have them all. So that will give you an idea of what the people did way back then. No teachers or office workers! Each of the occupations had a collection of the tools they used and examples of some of the things they made which were identified in English as well as three other languages. An excellent presentation!
The search for coffee
As we headed up toward the Church on the Hill, we passed by the house where Vlad the Impaler was born, which now houses a restaurant on the ground floor. We passed the building that housed the first Romanian school, although Brasov has a building that lays claim to that fame as well, and many other houses that have been declared historical monuments.
Then to tackle the 172 covered stairs (in sets of 6 between each landing) that lead to the church. Believe me, the roof didn’t help at all! Everyone went to look through the old German Cemetery while I wandered into the church. I was waylaid by a man to whom I paid 2 lei (a pittance) to enter the church. It had started life as a Roman Catholic Church in 1345 but was changed to Lutheran in the 1500s when the Saxon population outnumbered the Catholics and has stayed that way ever since. There were originally many frescoes on the ceiling, which were whitewashed over by the more austere Lutherans, and only parts of the originals are visible. The man to whom I paid the 2 lei also told me where to get an excellent cup of coffee. He had quite good English but it was a case of lost in translation as I thought I had to go down the stairs in the church and then up to the right to find the cafe so I descended the stairs to the crypt (the only stairs going down I could find) with Keeley nervously following behind me, then climbed (literally) up to the right only to encounter a dead end.
Keeley was saying are you sure he didn’t send us down here to murder us (she’s watched too many horror movies obviously) and I must admit at this stage, I started to wonder and my heart rate increased ready for flight or fight. God only knows how I was going to flee as there was only one way in and one way out of the crypt if we were to stay alive! There was a trapdoor in the floor of the church through which we entered which could have been snapped shut and locked while we were trying to find the way to the bloody cafe! Many tombs of those who had exited in another way lined the walls of the crypt. We pulled ourselves up the steep stairs and into the main part of the church. Enough excitement for one day! I returned to the man and asked for directions to the coffee.
By this stage, I was desperate for one. He told me the same thing as he did before, and I asked to the right. He said yes, but you can go left as well, which is when I twigged that he was talking about the 172 stairs down OUTSIDE the church not INSIDE! After that, we found the Cositorarului Casa Cafe easily, and with his recommendation went straight upstairs after choosing several delicious items that they bake themselves, carrot and chocolate cake, peanut cake, fruit flans, and plum cheesecake to name a few, to have with our coffee. The best fruit flan I have ever eaten. Here I go again with the superlatives but it’s true! I even bought half a dozen more to share later. While walking down the street, a lady with a little girl pointed to our hoard (wrapped up in alfoil) and we gave her one and were rewarded with the most grateful smile. She was still really happy when Stacey walked past her a couple of minutes later. Another of our bounty was given to a homeless man in Biertan who gratefully accepted it with a toothy grin. Lucky I had bought six! We then headed to Sibiu via Biertan, where we had a long list of things we wanted to see: the Liar’s Bridge, the Bruckenthal Museum, the oldest art gallery in Romania, housed in a former palace, and Lonely Planet’s top choice: the Museum of Traditional Folk Civilization.
As we were fast running out of daylight, we had to choose and opted for the latter, 5 kilometres south from Sibiu. Well, what can I say? I had taken over driving when we had filled up with petrol just before Sibiu, and managed to drive right through Sibiu without freaking out too much (right-hand side of the road which is not too bad but the roundabouts are a nightmare, and lanes are not marked correctly). After getting to a point about 8km from town, we decided we had missed it and turned back. Stacey went to ask a guy for directions at which point, I hopped into the passenger’s seat. Stacey had no choice but to drive again.
She is a great driver, but the worst passenger I have ever driven with. She has me so jittery driving in Australia that I never drive when she is coming with me. I don’t even think she knows this, but the last time I drove with her in the car I clipped a Brisbane City bus! So we started on the search for the elusive Folk Museum. It’s the second-largest open-air museum in the WORLD so you’d think we’d be able to find it: a collection of over 300 traditional dwellings, windmills and churches brought from all over Romania and set amongst two lakes and a zoo! We ended up stopping at least 3 times and asking locals who told us a few directions each time, left two streets down then left again and then you’d better stop and ask someone, it’s a little complicated. And it was! There was not one (bad swear word) sign the whole (bad swear word again) way so, when we eventually found it, it was just on closing time and starting to get dark, so we wandered around the lake taking photos of the beautiful lake with the windmills on the far side looking into a perfect sunset. I hope those photos turn out, but it was probably too dark for great pictures.
The dangers of cheap rental cars
We then had a 160-kilometre journey ahead of us, in the dark, over the mountains through Fagaras back to Brasov. As if this wasn’t stressful enough, the brakes which had started to get scratchy in Sibiu were now howling with a grating noise, and I was afraid we had done a wheel bearing. To top this off, we could now smell gas when we had the air-con on so had to turn it off and open all the windows to de-mist the windscreen.
With our car sounding like the harbinger from hell, we were ecstatic to see the lights of Brasov. We pulled in noisily to refuel the car as I had determined I would return it first thing in the morning. We were just so happy to get back to our hotel in one piece. After hurriedly collecting our dirty clothes for laundering, we headed out for dinner at the Transilvania Restaurant again where I ordered chicken and mushrooms, mashed potatoes and spinach after an entree of crumbed and stuffed mushrooms which we all shared. Of course, we needed a litre of the local red. We didn’t get home until almost midnight, unlike the two previous evenings. I texted Mihaela who agreed to meet me in the lobby at 11 am so I gratefully slept in. She arrived just after 11 and drove the car back to her office. At first, no sound was heard but soon enough the sound started and by the time we got to her office was sufficiently loud enough for her to refund me the two days we didn’t use. We sat and chatted for a while and she talked about her 14-year-old daughter whom she is “in love with” but did not mention her husband. She proudly showed me photos of a very beautiful girl. She called a taxi and we both caught it back to the town square as she lives one street back from the Black Church.
As she only paid 4 lei for the cab, I enquired of the driver how much it would be to the station on Tuesday. 7 lei, but he enquired where was I going from there and when I told him, he said he could take us to our hotel in Bucharest for 55 euro. I said I would ask the others as we would need 2 cars. Then Mihaela said her husband had a 7-seater car and would ask him if he could drive us there on Tuesday and how much it would be, and text me which she did. She texted: 70 euro for pick up at our Brasov hotel at 11 am and drop us at the door of our hotel at Bucharest Airport! Much better than catching 5 different trains and buses to get there — you find good people all over the world — all you have to do is ask. I met up with Keeley in the square and we both ate an Ulster Fry at the Irish Pub — eggs, bacon, sausages and grilled tomato washed down with an orange juice and latte macchiato.
Bargain Shopping in Brasov
As we headed out into the street, I realised I had left without my sunnies so had to walk back to our hotel to get them as it was a very bright sunny day. . We thought we’d check out the shops. I bought a strand of multicoloured freshwater pearls for 40 lei (8 euro) with a matching bracelet! As if I need more pearls! I walked the whole ground floor looking for Keeley before heading up the escalator and finally found her on the top floor. By the time we had carefully selected our purchases — two cat figures, a watch, earring and pendant set and a small thermos flask in a carry bag — the store had closed which we didn’t realise until we got some glares from security guards. It was just past 3. We then wandered up Republicii Street (the pedestrian shopping mall) and Keeley found a gorgeous hand-knitted jumper at a market stall for 40 lei. I was admiring a cut stone encased in metal for 20 lei but resisted buying it. I wanted to take the funicular up to the top of the hill as it was such a clear afternoon but my legs just would not carry me any further so we headed back to our rooms stopping at the sweets expo on the way and buying some slices, chocolates and nuts from different countries. We shared the slices with a cuppa, then headed back to the Irish Pub for Guinness Pie and Potato Skins for dinner accompanied by a margarita and a beer. No red wine tonight! It was only 7.30 so we thought we’d have a game of Bananagrams before bed. I lasted until 9, came back to my room, luxuriated in a long, hot bath, and went straight to sleep as there was no internet connection in our room. I awoke early but had one of those days where I didn’t get out the door till 3 pm, which was probably a good thing in retrospect as I had less time to spend my money. I bought a beautiful pashmina, and two headbands as the one I’d bought in Munich broke yesterday. We went to a wine cellar Kiryn had found, tasted a couple of wines and bought 2 litres of merlot for 18 lei (cheap as chips) Then headed for dinner at Transilvania again. We had mushrooms- stuffed and crumbed for entrée — and I had the fried Transylvanian meats, mashed potatoes, and mashed spinach — delicious! I went back to the shop where I had bought the pashmina but sadly, she was closed.
Our biggest expense
We arrived back at our room and I called to see if our laundry was finished. It was brought up to our room. It was 100 lei (25 euro) and it was all still wet! Not happy! I took some of the saturated clothes down to reception to voice my dissatisfaction at not only the price but the state of the clothes! Of course, there is nothing they can do as we are leaving tomorrow morning. Our clothes are hanging all around our apartment trying to dry.
I should not be complaining as Lorelle paid 30 euro for hers and she didn’t have nearly as much as we did. Sure we are prepared to pay for laundry but if it’s 9 euro for a huge load in Western Europe, surely it shouldn’t be twice as much for half as many clothes! Everyone else has been lovely, but the 220 lei the laundry woman earned would buy at least 20 meals at a lovely restaurant so I hope she enjoys every last lei. I did tell the hotel staff not to employ her again as they will have some very unhappy guests. Apparently, she is not their normal laundry lady. I was going to pack tonight but will have to wake up early and do it. We are off to Bucharest Airport tomorrow ready to fly to Athens early the following morning.
